(CNN Philippines) — Do young adults today have it have it easier than their elders did when they were young?
Perhaps not, if one were to look at employment figures.
A recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found that the country’s overall joblessness rating fell to 19.1% during the first three months of this year.
This figure stands in contrast to 27.5% registered in December 2014, and last year’s average of 25.4%.
Related: Joblessness falls to 19.1% — SWS
Despite the improvement, the results did not bode well for millennials — that is, those in the 18-to-24 age group. Their joblessness rate stands at an alarming 50.5%.
This essentially means that in the first three months of this year, one half of Philippine millennials didn’t have a job and spent time looking for one.
Among all the age groups, only those aged 18 to 24 saw an increase in joblessness (+2%) from the previous quarter. Likewise, the millennial joblessness rate stands at at striking distance from that of their elders. Figures for the 25-to-34, 35-to-44, and 45+ groups stand at 28.1%, 16%, and 7.9%, respectively.
According to the National Statistic’s Office’s latest census in 2010, the average age of Filipinos was 23.4 years. In that same year, SWS statistics show a full-year joblessness rate of about 55.5%.
The rating in the 18-to-24 age group has never dipped below 40% since December 2004 (38%).
Read: Philippines has most resilient economy – study
Also worth pointing out is an increase in what the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) calls an increase in “vulnerable employment.”
Figures from the agency’s 2014 year in review employment report show that the country’s full-year employment growth rate for 2014 stood at 2.8%, through the addition of one million employed individuals.
However, the PSA noted that much of the gains occurred among self-employed persons (+4%) and unpaid family workers (+8%).
“Together they contributed more than two-thirds (68.3%) to overall growth in employment [for 2014],” the PSA said.
Likewise, employment growth was largely driven by part-time work: “Another weak spot is the surge in part-time employment which rose sharply by 9.1% or more than a million (1.1 million) while persons in full-time employment fell slightly from last year [2013] (-227,000).”
PSA’s figures are consistent with SWS’ recent survey — the government agency noted that the youth “comprised nearly one-half (49.1%) of the total unemployed. This figure was 0.6 percentage point higher than last year [2013].”
“Unemployment,” the PSA says, “is primarily a problem of the youth.”
